Miami Herald (MH) - MON August 12, 1991
Peter Whoriskey; Herald Staff Writer

The Gauthier crusade stressed this: He was married. He was faithful. He contracted the virus while serving the public.

But documents released since his death last month suggest a mystery over the source of his infection: Was he infected while treating an AIDS patient? Or could he have caught it during a period when, medical summaries say, he suffered other sexually transmitted diseases?

Those were the questions facing the city of Hallandale's Pension Board -- five laymen confronted with a precedent-setting decision. Up to now, the Centers for Disease Control has reported no documented cases of on-the-job HIV transmission to emergency medical personnel, although the risks are well known.

Lacking conclusive medical data, the board voted 3-2 that Gauthier caught the disease on the job. That meant he would qualify for a larger pension.

"It was one of the most trying experiences I've had on the pension board," said Hallandale Commissioner Art Canon, who voted no. "I wish it had never happened."

But working papers of the city attorney, obtained last week under the public records law, raise questions about whether Gauthier actually contracted the disease in his work.

"I am convinced that Mr. Gauthier did not incur his disease on the job and we have evidence in that regard," attorney Richard Kane wrote Aug. 7 to lobbyists about a proposed firefighter AIDS protection law.

As proof, Kane offered a summary of Gauthier's medical record that shows a history of syphilis, gonorrhea and genital lesions. People with sexually transmitted diseases are known to be at high risk for contracting HIV.

In addition, Kane wrote, Gauthier was arrested in 1980 and charged with indecent exposure, and unnatural or lascivious behavior. He was arrested in an adult bookstore -- one that Kane said was frequented by homosexuals.

His medical history is "sufficiently bizarre, in my opinion, to support the premise that AIDS was contracted other than on the job," Kane wrote.

Gauthier had vehemently denied any homosexual encounters. His arrest involved a woman, he testified. To his supporters, the evidence is part of a smear campaign by a city administration that has long feuded with the fire union. Gauthier led the union for many of his 19 years in the Hallandale Fire Department.

"What you're talking about is a man who was very bitter against my husband," said Gauthier's widow, Dana, referring to Kane. "He's fought with my husband on union issues for 20 years."

Of the suggestion of homosexual activity, she said: "Kane had no evidence of any such thing. That was never proved."

The suggestion came up during Gauthier's pension hearing in June. It was the only time the source of his infection was debated in an official forum. No state or federal health agency has ever investigated how Gauthier caught HIV.

Gauthier cited three cases in which he was exposed to the blood or body fluids of people known to have AIDS:

* In May 1987, he rescued a bleeding man from a car wreck in Hallandale. Gauthier said the man was an AIDS patient. "During that extrication, I remember very well cutting my arm with bloody glass from this patient," he testified.

* In November 1988, he went to the home of a 33-year-old woman known to have AIDS. When he arrived, she was sitting on the couch complaining of pain in her abdomen. "I remember, vividly, taking vital signs on this patient as the patient was violently coughing and hacking and releasing sputum on me," he testified.

* In March 1989, Gauthier helped a 60-year-old man with AIDS. The man was nauseated and wanted to go to the hospital. Gauthier said he came in contact with the man's body fluids.

"For over 19 1/2 years, I've had my hands in feces, urine, vomit, spit," Gauthier told the pension board. "Gentlemen, you name the excrement that can come out of your body, and I've had my hands in it."

During his testimony, Gauthier was asked about other possible sources of HIV infection. "Like 1980, Jon?" Kane asked, referring to his arrest.

"You'd like to go into that period? I'd be glad to," Gauthier said. "There was an incident in my life, in 1980, that changed my life. And since that time, gentlemen, I met my wife. We are born-again Christians. I have been monogamous since that time."

As the testimony moved into the medical arena, the pension board reconvened behind closed doors. What happened next was not publicly known until last week, when the working papers of attorney Kane and the minutes of the meeting were obtained.

The attorney's summary shows:

* Gauthier tested positive on a syphilis test in 1978.

* In March 1983, two years after his marriage, Gauthier had gonorrhea.

* Once in 1978 and twice in 1979, he suffered lesions and other genital ailments.

* In 1979, 1982 and 1983, Gauthier had surgery to correct anal problems.

Although these incidents happened long before Gauthier was diagnosed with AIDS in November 1989, they are within the normal window of infection. According to recent studies cited by the National Institutes of Health, with half of adult AIDS patients, about 10 years pass between AIDS exposure and the onset of symptoms.

"If you want to go with the averages, he got the virus some time in the early '80s, late '70s," said Dr. Paula Sparti, an AIDS physician in Miami. "If he had two sexually transmitted diseases, that would make me suspicious that his HIV was sexually transmitted."

During the hearing, however, Dr. Richard Smith, medical director for the city fire department, told the pension board that it is "highly probable" that Gauthier caught the disease on the job. Smith knew Gauthier for 10 years. He said he had no reason to believe the firefighter ever used illegal drugs or participated in homosexual activity.

"He is in an occupation that is at greater-than-average risk," Smith stressed.

In Smith's view, most people show symptoms of AIDS within three to five years of infection. That would render Gauthier's history of sexually transmitted diseases irrelevant -- too early to be considered a cause, said Smith, an emergency medicine specialist.

Smith also noted that after a 1965 auto accident, Gauthier's spleen and part of his intestines were removed. Those losses would have compromised his immune system, he said.

Smith was the only doctor to testify before the pension board. He concluded that "in his medical opinion, there's no certainty in determining when or how firefighter Gauthier contracted the disease," the minutes say.

He concluded: "It was a matter for the board to decide."

The board then resumed the public portion of the meeting. About 30 of Gauthier's co-workers were sitting in the audience. Gauthier sat in a wheelchair, gaunt and feverish.

The board consists of five men: a city commissioner, a former city commissioner, an accountant, a fire department representative and a police department representative.

By voting in Gauthier's favor, the board entitled the firefighter and his family to 75 percent of his $39,000 annual salary for 10 years. The payments continue after his death.

Alan Miller, the accountant, sided with the representatives from the police and fire departments. "From a standpoint of humanity, you had to have some feeling for the guy," said Miller.

Former Hallandale Commissioner Sam Waterman and Commissioner Canon voted against Gauthier.

"Two of us thought there was a lack of evidence," Canon said. "We quizzed the medical man for an hour and a half. All we got was 'possible and probable.' "

After the vote, Gauthier rose trembling from his wheelchair shouting to colleagues, "This is for you!"

After he died July 30, firefighters as far away as Kenosha, Wis., held memorial services in his honor.

Locally, supporters announced a new name for the legislation that Gauthier had promoted. The Gauthier Bill says rescue workers infected with infectious diseases would be presumed to have been exposed on the job, making it easier for them to win benefits.

As far as his friends are concerned, the matter is settled.

Said Robert Sugarman, the attorney who represented Gauthier, "In the only chance Jon had to prove his case before he died, he won."

CAPTION: PHOTO Jon Gauthier (b)

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1991. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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